Optima fined £8k for CDM regs breach

Optima (Cambridge) has been fined £8,000 for breaches of the CDM Regulations and Construction Regulations.

The prosecution followed activities brought to the attention of the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) by an anonymous complaint about construction work at a housing development in Eastfield Road, Peterborough, during November 2004.

At Peterborough Magistrates' Court, Optima was found guilty of three breaches of the regulations: unsafe working at height with a significant risk of persons being injured; mobile access towers bridged by scaffold boards; unsecured ladder accesses; and an absence of key health and safety documentation relating to the project which was not displayed on site and could not be produced.

Optima (Cambridge), which was also ordered to pay £13,000 costs, had denied the allegations.

"Contractors are expected to organise and plan work at height effectively, and take appropriate measures to prevent people falling. Where standards are poor HSE will prosecute those responsible, even if there has been no injury as in this case," said an HSE spokesman.